Texas Rocks

Governor Greg Abbott recently announced that CNBC named Texas the top state for business in America for 2018.

He made the announcement from the iconic Enchanted Rock in Fredericksburg, a state park so popular they have to shut it down from time to time for capacity reasons (if you get turned away just make the short 6 hour drive to Big Bend National Park, you won’t regret it). Take a look at the Governor’s remarks below.

Year to date, state employment has grown at a 3.6 percent annualized rate, with broad based growth across Texas’ major metro areas, with Houston leading the way and Austin and Dallas–Fort Worth also showing solid gains.

According to the Dallas Federal Reserve, this is “mainly due to strong labor force growth.”

A few recent announcements that underscore the strength of the Texas economy.

Coca-Cola is building a $250 million production and distribution facility in Houston—it’s first one in the U.S. in a decade.

And… a new #ArmyFutures Command center will be located in #Austin, enabling the Army to partner with academia, industry, and innovators as it leads modernization efforts.

These successes are due in part to the #GoBigInTexas campaign and the #Texas Enterprise Fund, which has awarded more than 140 “deal-closing” grants totaling nearly $600 million since 2004.

On the policy front… The 86th session of the Texas Legislature is expected to include topics like school finance and school safety, workforce skills training, and infrastructure to keep up with population growth.

To pay for it, Comptroller Glen Hegar said last week that the state is projected to have an extra $2.67 billion to spend in the coming fiscal year. Oil and natural gas production tax collections are up almost 12 percent compared to last year.

Finally. Leading national CEO’s have expressed alarm about potential “higher costs of imports for U.S. consumers” due to federal tariffs. Since Texas leads the nation in exports – particularly technology – it will be interesting to see if tariffs become a drag on the Texas economy in the coming months.